The Northpoint 2015 Show will be the 37th annual furniture show to take place in Scotland organised by the Scottish Furniture Representatives Association (SFRA).
In 2015, the SFRA is celebrating fifty years since its inception, when a group of furniture sales representatives and agents got together, led by founder Nat Barnes. The group formalised as an Association in 1965 with a constitution, and the first president was Bob Robertson, with an initial membership of about 30.
The contact and company details of the membership were published as a wall chart and distributed to retailers by the members. The wall chart is now a full colour handbook containing company and representative contact details and is distributed throughout the trade each year.
From the mid-60s, SFRA members and the companies they represented gathered their wares in various venues in Glasgow, which included some hotels, Glasgow city halls, and the Glasgow McLellan galleries, before graduating to the much larger Kelvin Hall as an SFRA-organised show.
The show moved to the prestigious Royal Highland Centre in Edinburgh over 30 years ago, and in that time it has graduated to the largest hall, and have occupied it every year since it was built in 2003. The show regularly attracts over 200 buyers, and in recent years many of the SFRA membership have taken on larger sales territories incorporating parts of England and Ireland, so the show now welcomes many retailers from these areas.
Ron Nicolson, MD of Celebrity Motion Furniture, says: “For the last 15 years, the Ingliston show has been an important part of our sales and marketing plans as it allows us to present our new products and marketing strategies to the Scottish and North of England customers.
“Not all our customers can make the January exhibition at the NEC and with the Scottish show being immediately after, it is the ideal venue to meet a large and important part of our customer base. With the marketplace beginning to show signs of more confidence, I believe this year’s exhibition will be one of the most successful yet.”
In addition to the show, there is also a very popular annual SFRA presidents dinner, which is now in its 35th year. Once again Valuemark will be the main sponsor. As 2015 celebrates the 50th anniversary of the founding of the SFRA, Richard Sharp, MD of Kingstown Furniture, has arranged a champagne reception for all attending the dinner at the Edinburgh Marriott Hotel. Karl Walker, MD of Lebus Upholstery, will be sponsoring part of the evening’s entertainment.
What is more, visitors are invited to enjoy a complimentary hog roast on the Sunday afternoon at the show.
